1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of improving evaporation efficiency of defrost water.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator has a cooling apparatus to cool a storing chamber. Conventionally, a cooling apparatus of a refrigerator includes a compressor compressing refrigerant, a condenser condensing the compressed refrigerant, an expander expanding the condensed refrigerant, and an evaporator evaporating the expanded refrigerant to cool the storing chamber.
Since the compressor and the condenser must cool the storing chamber using external air, they are installed in a machine room separated from the storing chamber. In addition, the machine room includes both a blowing fan blowing air in order to cool the compressor and the condenser, and an evaporating dish in order to evaporate defrost water that has dropped down from the evaporator.
For example, Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-0119454 discloses a refrigerator in which a cooling fan, a condenser, an evaporating dish (evaporating vessel), and a compressor are sequentially installed from one side of a machine room. The evaporating dish adheres closely to the side of the compressor. Such a refrigerator heats defrost water of the evaporating dish by using the heat of the compressor, thereby evaporating the defrost water. Further, the refrigerator causes the air blown by a cooling fan to flow toward the evaporating dish after the temperature of the air has been increased while passing through the condenser, thereby improving the evaporation efficiency of defrost water by convection-heat transfer.
However, in such a refrigerator, since the air flowing toward the evaporating dish by the cooling fan is diffused inside the machine room, the speed of air flowing above the surface of the defrost water becomes slow, and thus the convection-heat transfer efficiency for evaporation of the defrost water is deteriorated. Accordingly, in such a refrigerator, the size of the evaporating dish is increased in order to increase the contact area between the defrost water and the air flowing above the defrost water. However, in such a case, since a space occupied by the evaporating dish in the machine room increases, the parts of the machine room may not be efficiently arranged. Further, airflow may interfere with the evaporating dish.
Moreover, in such a refrigerator, since the air blown by the cooling fan is diffused inside the machine room, the air is not easily exhausted from the machine room. This may decrease the cooling efficiency of the compressor and the condenser, resulting in efficiency deterioration.